Iraq's Higher Judicial Council said a senior judge was assassinated while travelling in eastern Baghdad.
Spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said masked drive-by shooters shot and killed Judge Kamil al-Showaili on Thursday on Canal Highway, as he was heading home.
Bayrkdar says al-Showaili was the head of one of Baghdad's two appeals courts.
The spokesman did not identify any particular group as being responsible for the shooting.